Thousands of coffee shops offer free WiFi service, which allows data to be transmitted via a wireless network. Business people are taking advantage of them.

It’s a definite trend, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. John Challenger, the firm’s CEO, say he occasionally works out of Chicago coffee shops.

While connecting at coffee shops isn’t appropriate for all workers, connecting there can save time and auto expense. If you look into a city coffee shop, you will probably see users ranging from sales people to pharmaceutical representatives. They work from laptops but also meet with clients and hold meetings.

A recent survey shows that only 36 percent of businesses employing up to 100 people have a Web site. The other two-thirds should have one. A presence on the Web provides information about the business to prospective customers, suppliers and employees. Even a little information about the business is better than being nonexistent on the Web.

Today you can set up a site without technical help or Web hosting costs.

First: Buy a domain name (like yourcompany.com). To do it, visit any of the thousands of online registrars such as godaddy.com, aplus.net, networksolutions. com. Search for the domain name you want. If it’s already taken, type in another, then click “Proceed to Checkout.” The cost ranges from $6 to $10 a year to secure a domain.

Second: Find a place to host your site. Several companies now provide Web hosting services free of charge. Visit sites such as Microsoft’s weebly. com or synthasite.com. You can also buy your domains at these sites. Like all the ‘build it online’ services, you don’t need any technical knowledge at all to build an attractive Web site.

Third: Set up your site. A basic site includes a welcoming home page, a page that describes your business, and a contact page that tells how to reach you.

You can add to the pages by typing in text or dragging and dropping graphics. One free and easy way to improve your design is to use HTML coding, but you don’t have to know the codes, says

The Wall Street Journal. Many sites offer handy blocks of html that you can plug into your site as easily as copying and pasting text.

“Itâ€™s quite a diverse collection. So if you have your student participate in the voting they might, or might not, want to try out all of them. Less than a handful require registration, but those that do make it very easy.”

â€œSeveral children, some of whom couldnâ€™t sit still, became engaged in Abracadabraâ€™s educational gaming format. It offers surprises, competition and rewards, without comparing one student to another. One boy in particular, who struggled with simple letter identification, was absolutely engrossed,â€ Dr Lea said.

â€œEducation in this country has evolved dramatically from the days of one teacher in a one-room schoolhouse. Today, student learning is no longer confined to a physical space. Computers and the Internet have broken through school walls, giving students greater opportunities to personalize their education, access distant resources, receive extra help or more-challenging assignments, and engage in learning in new and unique ways.”

According to education experts, personal learning in distance learning programs plays the most important role in the success of ones completion. “The students decide on their own success”, said Dr. Ralf Andreas Thoma, head of studies Betriebwirtschaftliches Institut & Seminar Basel AG / Switzerland.

“As online learning becomes more of a strategic resource for K-12 and higher-education institutions to supplement traditional courses, education leaders are starting to discuss how online learning can help support minority studentsâ€™ instructional needs.”